Joint Base Lewis-McChord family killed in Texas accident

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Joint Base Lewis-McChord family killed in Texas accident

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Authorities say a Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier and his family have been killed in a highway accident in Texas.

The Tacoma News Tribune reports that the Texas Department of Public Safety says Sgt. Brandon Cummings, his wife Vanessa and their 10-month-old son died on Sunday.

The family lived in Lakewood, Washington. They died when a tractor-trailer driven by Jorge Alberto Contreras drifted across Interstate 40 in north Texas about 7:15 p.m. on Sunday and hit the family’s vehicle.

A spokeswoman for Cummings’ unit says his command was planning a memorial so soldiers on base can pay respects to the family with a local service.

Cummings was a military police officer assigned to JBLM’s 593rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command. He had served in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.